This soapy taste is often the result of shaking the milk vigorously to "encorporate" the risen fat back in. I have seen mothers try to "homogenize" their own milk (I did it with my own first baby, 17 years ago) and then have this soapy taste occur. There are some theories that the fat may be changed into a soaplike substance. Lawrence reports that this is most likely not harmful to the baby. I have smelled and even tasted my own milk in this state (again 17 years ago, I knew better with subsequent children,) and it is not pleasant. I have also seen babies drink it with no complaint. When this happened to my milk, many years ago, I threw it away. I didn't pump much, or feed EBM often, but I wish I had known NOT to shake the daylights out of my milk. I instruct my clients to give the milk ONLY a gentle rocking motion and not to worry if all the fat (cream) doesn't encorporate back in. The baby will get enough! I also explain the cow's milk would do the same thing, if it wasn't so processed. Mary Jozwiak IBCLC, RLC, LLLL, AAPL Private Practice ......there is no such thing as a "free diaper bag"...... *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html